My friends Soumitra and Debjani, you may remember them from my last trip to India. They are both psychiatrists, Soumitra practices in a renowned Cancer Hospital and Debjani has a private practice and sees patients twice a month at one of the Houses of the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's congregation). I've known them for about 10 years and they open their home to my visits. Their daughter is now studying in Chennai. This is the first trip I've made her where she wasn't in the midst of exams.
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We had a really nice lunch at the Taj Hotel, I had a fantastic squash soup and asparagus/potato pancake.
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My time in Kolkata brings back many memories of visits here in the past, days when it was still called Calcutta. My first visit was in 1987. Let me share some random memories I've had.
Sr. Gertrude was the third sister in the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity. She was sent to medical college and was the first medical doctor amongst the Sisters. I had the pleasure of meeting her and "talking story" with her a few years before her death in 2015.
She spoke, not only the challenges in comforting and caring for poor people, but the added challenge of simply being accepted by the poor. Since those early days, the Missionaries of Charity operate in 133 countries and have about 5,300 members. |
This is the street entrance to the Mother House in Kolkata
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The first time that I visited the Motherhouse, the board at the main entrance said "OUT." But since her death in 1997, it permanently says "IN." So, Mother Teresa was "IN" for my visits after her death in 1997. I never met Mother Teresa personally, but I met here through the many Sisters that I've met over the years in India, Liberia, Kenya and the US.
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Sr. Prema was the third Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, the one Superior General that I had the privilege to meet and from whom I received a blessing. Graciously, after blessing me, she asked me to bless her. The fourth Superior General was elected in March of last year, she is Sister M. Joseph Michael, a native of southern India’s Kerala state.
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This photo is from 2009 and was a training program that I conducted for the Missionaries of Charity from all over India - training in palliative care.
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The entrance to the first home for the dying at Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday) - started in 1952 in an abandoned Kali temple
Today, the temple to the goddess Kali has reopened and exists side-by-side to Nirmal Hriday (Mother's Home to the Dying and Destitute. ) |
Destitute and dying men were taken from the streets of Calcutta and cared for in Nirmal Hriday (Home of the Pure Heart). This home was the inspiration for hundreds of others around the world. In 1957 the Sisters began to care for orphaned and abandoned children.
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A more current photo shows volunteers from various parts of the world coming to Kolkata to walk in the footsteps of Saint (Mother) Teresa by volunteering in one of Mother's Homes.
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